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 Omar Al-Hashimi, M.D.
Address:
Genetech Hall Room N476
UCSF Mission Bay Campus
600 16th Street
San Francisco, CA 94158-2330
email: omar.al-hashimi@ucsf.edu
lab: 415-476-2164
fax: 415-514-4451
Biography:
Raised in Wisconsin and Arizona, Omar moved to Tucson to attend University of Arizona for a B.S./M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. During his time there, he had opportunities to do research in a variety of projects ranging from molecular dynamics simulations to protein purification and structure determination. He also had opportunities to pursue his EMT certification, work with special needs children and adults as well as work at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale on a breast cancer trial. Completing his B.S. cum laude with honors with a minor in physics in 2004, Omar decided to halt his graduate work and matriculate at University of Wisconsin - Madison Medical School.
While attending UW Medical School, Omar won the Herman Shapiro Research Fellowship to do research on spinal cord injury in rat models in the Department of Neurosurgery. Later, finding the possibilities of clinical imaging interesting, Omar worked on a retrospective record review project looking for new radiographic features in brain pathologies in the Department of Neuroradiology. After training at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center, he matriculated at the UCSF/UCB Joint Bioengineering Graduate Program to pursue his interests in developing technology to investigate and interact with the human brain.
Research Description:
Our lab is currently focused on elucidating attention and working memory in the context of normal aging. Our current research is concerned with finding the behavioral effects and neural correlates of distracting sensory input and interrupting secondary tasks while engaged in a primary task. We are interested in the neural differences between high and low performers, the neural basis of successful and unsuccessful multi-tasking as well as how this ability changes generally as the brain ages. Current work also includes measuring the effect of training on the ability to handle distractions and interruptions as well as crossover training benefits on cognition and working memory performance using fMRI and EEG.
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